#beck live

[gamezinvaders-blog]

Here is the last gig of the BECK Australian tour 2018! Check out Black Tambourine!

[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "Wah-Wah" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

OK, I was letting the Grammy craziness die down a little before finishing off the MP tour breakdown here.  Two songs left, one quick, one long.  First up, a song from one of my all-time favorite records, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. Beck played George Harrison's "Wah-Wah" twice last year.  The first time was on Conan O'Brien's show, as part of George Harrison week. when different stars came on and covered George's songs.  The weekend before Beck's appearance, he did a show in LA that I attended.  I asked Justin which song they were doing, but he said they were deciding between two and couldn't tell me.  I never did learn what the second choice was, but as you can see, they went with one of George's guitar riff type songs. George's version is about twice as long as Beck and the guys perform it.  The original is a sort of formless jam, with a simple sparse lyric (as George did so well).  Beck sings this with good enthusiasm, and I enjoy hearing Smokey and Jason battle it out on the riff; but overall, I think there is a sort of formality to it--not bad, but likely due to being on TV doing a song they'd only just rehearsed. They did do "Wah-Wah" one time on the actual tour after that, though I am not aware of a recording so have not heard it.  Here is the version from Conan:

[beck]

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[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "Tropicalia" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

dance in a reptile blaze

Beck only played "Tropicalia" one time this year, at the request of a woman before the show in Paris. Fortunately, there's video!

The video only really shows Smokey, Joey and Beck.  But I can also hear piano (probably Roger), synthesizer (probably Gus), and bass (Justin).  Unsure what Jason adds, if anything, though he is seen with an acoustic guitar before they start. Anyway, as I wrote on "Dead Melodies," Beck rarely delves into Mutations anymore ("DM" was played three times only).  When he does, it's one of those two songs.  Weirdly, Beck has played "Tropicalia" one time every year since 2007 (except in 2009 and 2010 when he didn't tour, so he did not play it).  This was 2014's one time, I guess.  

I can't figure why though.  First, with Smokey back playing guitar, it would have fit nicely.  Smokey has recorded a couple of solo EPs, and they were full on covers of Brazilian music; this right here is his expertise. Second, Beck did not perform solo acoustic songs this year, and this sort of thing--more intimate and quiet and personal--was lacking from the set.  

[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "Debra" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

I got a little sympathy for you

Song stats: Beck performed “Debra” at 44 of the 57 shows in 2014. Most of the time it was in the encore, the final 3 songs, though they did experiment a few times with putting it in the middle of the set.

Band lineup:

Beck – vocals Gus – electric guitar, backup vocals, sometimes percussion, possibly some keyboards Roger – keyboards, backup vocals Justin – bass, backup vocals Smokey – electric guitar, backup vocals Joey – drums Jason (after May) – electric guitar, backup vocals

Breakdown and Highlights:

This one was so fun! It may be a tough one to convey in writing though, but listening to 25 versions of "Debra" in order like this was great.  The song was often unpredictable, goofy, and charming (as always).

I guess I should start with noting the surprisingly basic structure for the studio recording of “Debra.” It goes something like this:

- intro - verse & chorus - longer spoken verse & chorus - "ooh lovely lady..." - outro Pretty simple in the end, but that's not atypical for soul music, which is more about the feel of a song, the way the dramatic music builds, and the passion than any unique turns.

From a wider lens, “Debra” this year had one arrangement on stage, following a path through those parts, except that Beck's improvisations each night could extend or change the feel of any one section quite a bit. Beck always talked over the intro, the first verse was generally identically to the way you hear it on the album, and the second verse went off into fantastic tales of whimsical seduction. The song always used the “lovely lady” section to end it more or less (a slight outro was included sometimes).

But from a more micro lens, there actually seems to me to be three iterations of the songs. The first iteration was during the first leg of the tour, maybe also a few shows into the second. This first leg had 3 spots for improvisation: the intro, the second verse, and sometimes building into the “lovely lady” part. This iteration was very long too. The first two nights (both in Santa Barbara), “Debra” was 11 and 9.5 minutes long (the two longest of the tour). They reined it in after that, but still it was generally 7 minutes long.

This is a video from the second weekend of Coachella. It shows off the song quite completely: improvisations in the usual parts, every section and chorus present.

Somewhere in the second leg though, a new iteration of the song popped up. Maybe less an iteration and more of a distortion?  I think it came from the band trying to shorten the song down a bit (a couple of the takes were barely 4 minutes long). The consistent things in this second iteration is that Beck took to improvising a little during the first verse, and then skipping the second chorus entirely. He would just improvise through it, and go directly into the “lovely lady” section. (The band on the other hand, would often build up to the chorus musically; Beck just ignored it and kept telling his tale.)

But beyond these things, during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th legs, you could never tell what Beck was going to do on the song. One time, in Kentucky (at a festival), he went from the first verse & chorus straight into the “lovely lady” part, forgetting the whole middle part of the song. Then he went back and did the second verse at the end. Another time, he did three verses and choruses (in Atlanta) before finally closing it down with the “lovely lady” section. Stuff like this happened a lot, and all started to feel sort of insane.  You could sense the band figuring out ways to keep to up.

Finally, during the last 10 shows or so, “Debra” was sort of standardized a bit, especially after all that madness over the summer legs. The second chorus returned usually, and I guess it was fairly similar to the first iteration. But the band was there with him quite well. They seem to have gotten the hang of Beck's wanderings, and everything feels like real soul music.  Not silly, but pure. These versions are sublime, they feel so much sharper and focused to me.

This is the show in LA, the first night.  Focus on the band, all the amazing fancy little things they're doing behind Beck:

One other quick addendum about Beck's improvisations. They were definitely impressive, especially to listen to all in a row like I just did (not in one sitting). There were many recurring themes from night to night, but still, they were remarkably different. Beck can just get into a headspace and go off on these stories. Beck liked to reference shopping malls, Tindr swipes and Facebook statuses, flying his Hyundai into space with Willie Nelson in the backseat, Jimmie Rodgers' “Peach Pickin' Time In Georgia,” various R. Kelly songs, “Dick In A Box.” I won't lie though, by the end of listening to all these versions, I was sort of tuning him out, and focusing on the band!

[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "The New Pollution" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

like a whipcrack sending me shivers Song stats: Beck played "The New Pollution" at 32 of his 57 shows this year.  It was not played at all on the first leg, nor on the final leg.  In between then, it was quite the regular (32 of 38 shows).   Band lineup: Beck - vocals, tambourine (sometimes) Justin - bass, backup vocals Gus – keyboards (inc. the solo), backup vocals, tambourine Roger – synthesizer (the effects – though this could be Gus), tambourine, backup vocals Smokey – electric guitar Jason – electric guitar, backup vocals Joey – drums

Breakdown:

This may be a little bit of a cop-out, but there was literally nothing exciting about “The New Pollution” this year. That's not to say it was bad – in fact, being live, it had a hop to it, and it was definitely well-received by the crowd and the band seems really into it. But looking at it closer here, there's almost nothing to say. Everything you hear on Odelay in the song, you could hear on stage – the “doo doo doo” chorus and the horn (both tapes), the note-for-note organ solo by Gus, the beat, the extra flourishes. The ending on the album, though, where all the instruments drop out one-by-one, leaving just the horns at the very end? They didn't do that creative outro on stage.  They just end it.

So yea, we've seen recreations like this a lot this year, and it's my biggest criticism of the tour. I don't expect everything to be majorly reconstructed every time out, but too much stuff like this makes a tour feel like Beck is leaning towards being a nostalgia act, touring around, recreating his hits, like he's on the Journey or Counting Crows circuit. Fun, sure, but what's the point? Where's the art? “The New Pollution” seems to be the focal point of this for me. Highlight (or something):

[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "Black Tambourine" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

shake and rattle our bodies Song stats: Beck played "Black Tambourine" almost every night in 2014, at 55 of 57 shows.  The two times he did not do it were a short festival slot in between legs (for KROQ in So. Cal.) and then at the 54th show in Tulsa (for no apparent reason).  "BT" was also almost always played right after "Devils Haircut" at the beginning of their set (or the 'rock' section of the set). Band lineup: Beck - vocals, electric guitar Smokey - electric guitar, backup vocals Justin - bass, backup vocals Roger - tambourine, cowbell, backup vocals Gus - tambourine, electric guitar, backup vocals Joey - drums Jason (after May) - electric guitar, backup vocals Breakdown: I've always found "Black Tambourine" to be an odd song.  It just feels strange to me, but I can never quite pinpoint why.  This year, on stage, the band seemed to keep the minimal strange arrangement of the recording, all the while attacking it all with their own flair. There are a few "new" parts to the song.  It usually started with a thunderous electric guitar riff, which is a really cool beginning point.  This intro then morphs into the riff/intro as you hear it on the record.  Then, like the record, Beck does a couple of verses over bass and percussion. After that the record turns into a short guitar solo, which the band adapts on stage into a two-part guitar break.  First they beef up the riff, making it EXPLODE out of the song.  In many many songs, the chorus is usually the catchy part, but I've always loved how in quite a few Beck songs, it's the parts in between the words that stick in your head.  After the explosion, the band drops way down (literally and figuratively actually), and climbs the song back up into the next verse. For the third verse, it's definitely worth noting that Joey Waronker owns this song.  About this time of the song, he just goes off on the drums.  The first few times, I kept thinking he was going rogue on it, but you know, drummers cannot do that!  And he did it every night.  He just found the space in the song to go nuts really, and it is awesome.

The song ends with another quick explosion, the same riff from before.  (Though a few times, Beck tacked a short solo on at the very very end.)  Doing this series, I've been impressed by the band's restraint actually -- whenever they find a great new rock riff section (like on "Devils Haircut," "E-Pro," or here), they never overdo it.  They just drop it in there real quick, and leave it.  I mean, Beck's about as far from a jam band as ever there could be, but sometimes I would not mind to hear it go on a bit.  Especially here on "Black Tambourine"... that riff would be fun to hear if it were extended a little.

So ya, there's some seemingly contradictory things in live "Black Tambourine"s.  It is explosive, but also restrained.  Also it is minimal, but full of flair.  I am not sure this song ever made a lasting impression on anyone, but in the moment it was a total blast. Highlight: Quite enjoyed this version from Red Rocks in Colorado.  Again, focus on Joey's drums!  So cool.

[whiskeyclonenet-blog]

Cycle: "Timebomb" - 2014 Morning Phase tour breakdown

cold just like an alligator Song stats: Beck played this at 13 of the 57 shows, though somewhat interestingly it was the final 13 shows of the tour.  They didn't introduce it until show 45, and must have liked it, because it stayed. Band lineup: Beck - vocals Smokey - synthesizer Roger - synthesizer, backup vocals Jason - electric guitar, backup vocals Gus - synthesizers, backup vocals Justin - synthesizer, backup vocals Joey - drums Breakdown: "Timebomb" joined "Girl" and "Hell Yes" as one of the exciting, all-synth, new wave, highspeed jams of 2014.  All sounded great, and seemed to really get the crowd going.  "Timebomb" of course, on record, already sounds just like that, so it there was not quite the transformation that "Girl" and "Hell Yes" went through.   The first thing I noticed going through the live "Timebomb"s was just how into it Beck was.  Usually when he raps, he sort of has a laidback way about it... and even listening to the studio "Timebomb" you can hear that.  But on stage this year, he had an almost aggressive delivery.  It works though, and I think I prefer it. Also over the course of the final 13 shows, the band seemed to get more involved.  Initially, it seemed like it was mostly just Beck singing, which was a bit of a surprise because the studio version has SO many voices on it.  But shortly, the band got comfortable and used to doing more of the different vocals ("tick tick tick" and all that).  Though Beck has played this song live in the past, I don't think he ever really did with any of these band members.  So it took them a few times to get into it. Somewhat surprisingly, because it seems so constructed, there was some space for a few moments of ad-lib.  Beck took to singing little intros while the band all moved over to their synthesizers, but also in the middle of the song -- there's a drum break part that Beck would sometimes let go on longer than others.  And a couple of those times, he improvised some stuff over it.  He really did have a lot of fun on this song!  Highlight: Lots of good videos of this song to choose from actually... also liked the first weekend of Austin City Limits and Paris videos, but I'll go with this one, the second night in LA as quite indicative of how they settled into the song this year: